Category: Guest Writers

So what do you do with 10 year olds when they say things that are not true when they do not understand the gravity of there words?

I live in a small sleepy suburb just West of Boston, MA. It is a bedroom community where the executive elite of Boston reside. It is a wealthy town. It is quiet. It is not usually in the public eye.

Wednesday morning Sudbury caught the attention of most of America. Why would anyone care about this town? Well, 1 street over from my house a man was arrested on account of trying to be a terrorist. I say trying because he attempted to join 3 terrorist organizations that would not let him in. And in a country where a weapon is as easy to buy as alcohol he was not able to buy his semiautomatic rifles he wanted for attacking the local mall.

So … good the Fed caught the man.

Well of course as parents we have been wondering what would come back home from school after such excitement.

We have some neighbors who have moved here from Iran. Lovely people. She is doing research on autistic children and he resigned from his high level job to come support her in the US. They have 2 children and one is in class with my son. So on the way home from school, as the kids rode the bus, another boy (happens to belong to our synagogue) decided to tell those around him that this Iranian boy’s father is a terrorist. We are not sure the boy heard on the bus, however, when they got off at the bus stop a couple of girls decided to inform him that this boy was saying this on the bus. Of course he got quite upset.

In the end my wife called the mother (she did not know anything about it even 2 hours later – he did not tell her) and the principal.

So my thing is this, the boy who is spreading these rumors is Jewish. My kids are Jewish. They are all under 10. How do you teach children about Lashon Hara? My favorite tale is the one of the child who is telling stories is asked to take a pillow of feathers and to run as fast as he can without dropping a feather. The moral of the story is that your words are like the feathers, once they are out of the bag and carried by the wind they are impossible to gather and put back in. It is a good tale but does it work?

My son has fallen in love with baseball. He played on a team for the first time this fall. He loved it so much that he decided not to play soccer but to do fall baseball. Baseball sounded good because it was local and soccer required traveling up to 2 hours away.

This baseball idea is all fine but they do not give a schedule ahead of time. There is no way of knowing when the games will be. So guess when they are playing. Yep, 9 AM on Saturday.

Here is my dilema. We are not halachic Jews and we do not follow the word of our rabbi. However, we do observe Shabbat starting on Friday night through Saturday night. The way we approach Shabbat is that we do not do anything related to our work during the week. Shabbat is for rest and renewal. That means we focus on family, reading, playing outside, inviting friends over and enjoying the aspects of life we do not get to do while working during the week. The things that we consider part of the work week are the TV, computer, electronic games, and shopping.

What do we do with baseball? Is baseball OK? If baseball is, what is not? Is the issue Shabbat or that my Saturday schedule is being changed?

If I am raising Jewish children with the love and passion of Judaism how do I teach the importance of Shabbat? Is it by telling them what they cannot do? I hope not. But at some point I will have to say no. What is my line? Where am I comfortable?

Going to a friend’s house – well yes if they are playing outside

Going to the mall – well here seems to be the line

Going to the movies – this seems to step over it

Going to a friend’s to play video games – no

Going to grandparents where they watch TV – yes, it’s their grandparents

Going out to a party on Friday night – is one night different than every night?

My children are still young so this is on the edge of theoretical, however the baseball thing is real. I do not think I have a problem with baseball but I am still wrestling with it.

What do you do? Are you a halachic Jew? Does having a rule book simplify things? Are you practicing Jew? How do you do Shabbat with your children? What would you do in this case?

This is got to be one of the best holidays ever. First, it is in the fall. What is better than fall in New England. Second, you build and decorate a Succah. What is more fabulous then the physical act of doing a ritual? It is like a long meditation on the fragility of life with the smells and sights of the changing leaves. Third, everyone participates fully. Children, adults and all in between. Everyone can decorate, everyone can dwell, and everyone loves a good drink in the Succah.

Curried sweet potato latkes from New Orlean’s Jews, hummus and falafel sandwiches NYC style, bagels and cream cheese with a fresh tomato anytime in August, and of course chicken matzahball soup cooked by the best soup cooker in the world – my wife.

What could be better? Everytime Jewish people get together there is always good food and drink. L’Chaim.

I do not like being the same. I have never liked it as far as I remember.

I knew a guy in college, a Brit, who’s self-described goal was to be average, to never stick out. Mind you he would go out at night in New England wearing an ascot – as if that would not make a straight guy stick out.

Judaism has something unique and special and I participate in it. I do it. It is nice to have that connection. It is fabulous that Judaism is influential but is not the mainstream. I like that. Judaism is meaning-full, that is only something that can be done when it is unique and not the same.

Learning, wrestling and growing at no matter what age you are is fantastic. I love how learning is expected all of the time. If you are not working you should be studying. There is always something new to learn even if you are 120.

One thing that I love about Judaism is that I can argue about what I am struggling with. I can argue with the rabbi. That is fabulous. I want to wrestle and learn. I am not very good at being told what to do. Being able to argue allows me to explore the things that are difficult to encounter in life.